Detainees: Being belly dancer saves a lot of torture

(Zaman Al Wasl)- Aida al-Haj Yousif, the former detainee by the Syrian regime, tells how a Moroccan belly dancer was highly welcomed in the prison. She was arrested in the town of Sayyidah Zaynab, southern Damascus, over links with Shiite militants who were entertaining themselves during the slaughter of Syrian people.

During my eight-month detention in the Terrorist Wing of Adra Central Prison near the capital, the habitual practice of the pain and tragic circumstances was not easy.

The pregnant woman wakes up every morning, hoping that all she is living is just a nightmare, not a reality imposed on her by the will of the executioner.

I would have liked to hear the voices of my children instead of the sounds of Abu Taimour's hammer knocking the doors to wake everyone up to get her a breakfast. A loaf of bread and very little oil and thyme for every detained woman.

That time was the most surprising. A campaign of barbaric arrests began against women who supported the revolution. They were from all sects and communities.

The prison was overcrowded. Food not that enough. No place to sleep. All exhausted bodied were sticked together.

In the midst of the noise and when the new inmates came in, we had to keep the dormitory clean, and fortunately I did not move between the dormitories as it did with most girls and women.

We then had to cut the hair of most of the newly-arrived women and burn their clothes to avoid the scabies and lice epidemic after it spread in all the wings and sections.

One of those women was a 36-year-old Moroccan belly dancer. She told her inmates that she was working in a nightclub in the Sayyida Zainab town, commonly known as Set Zaynab, where the shrine of ‘Zaynab’, the grand daughter of Prophet Muhammad, is located.

The dancer boasted her ‘honey day’ at the National Security department where she spent 33 days. No torture, not offensive and humiliation as all female detainee pass through.

She was talking about money. Her prestigious income and generous customers at the nightclub and in her apartment. But the blast that rock a checkpoint near the resident was a reason to be behind the bars over terror suspects.

The The fierce war opened new income for the dance, No need to get back to Morocco, she said. Even Though, she was upset why her embassy never contacted her or even hire a lawyer to follow up her case.

The prison governor lured the dancer that he he could release her for a bunch of cash she brought with her. He sent Merian, the powerful inmate that got close ties with the colonel, to convince the dancer.

She spent ten days with us. She was released. No charges. Being a belly dancer may save a lot of torture and perhaps may give you a new life out the notorious prisons.